The Pirate Couple
by The Elusive
Summary: Will finally marries Elizabeth, but is he having doubts at the altar?


The Worst Pirate of them all.  
  
Will stood at the altar. His day had come; he was finally going to marry Elizabeth. Everything leading up to this day, after Jack had escaped, had been a kind of distant memory, even when it was actually occurring. Will was still in a state of unattached want. It had all been a haze really. He loved Elizabeth he knew it but. that was just it, but. He hadn't had any second thoughts, regrets or doubts. Wasn't it normal for a man to go through lots of doubts?  
  
Even if it was, why wasn't he happy to think that it merely meant he loved Elizabeth more than any other man loved his wife? It had disturbed him, but now he was at the altar he really started to think about these things. Really, what would he regret most?  
  
His freedom?  
  
He would still be partially free. It wasn't the end of his life, as Jack so graciously put it, and he wanted Elizabeth more than anything. He had to, otherwise why would he have gone to so much trouble rescuing her?  
  
There was no other woman in his life.  
  
Unbidden, a face swam into his mind. Brown hair unkempt, hands calloused, face tanned almost brown, fingernails short and bitten, overly bright eyes and fierce grin.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
His savior.  
  
Of sorts. The wild, drunken, rowdy pirate woman he had seen in Tortuga.  
  
She had been sitting at the bar, challenging a tough looking young pirate to a drinking game, which she had won after he collapsed in a heap on the floor, when Will had first seen her. She had made many enemies that night, and few allies. Since she won she got all the profits of such a gambling game. This made a few men more than forward, especially since she was most likely drunk.  
  
They were ultimately discouraged however when she knocked a man out cold after he asked if he could buy her a drink. Will had left halfway through a brawl the mad woman had started. Jack had been too drunk to say anything other than, "good, yah such a bloody saint as it tis" before turning to a barmaid who he thought was giv'n 'im the eye. Will had been on his way back to the pearl. He hadn't drunk much at all, so he was unafraid of being taken off guard. It seemed everyone in Tortuga was too intoxicated to even walk straight anyway. He didn't really heed Jacks warning, this place was a pirate port but everyone was asleep, drunk or busy with wenches.  
  
It was therefore a complete shock when he was grabbed from behind and flung hard into a wall. There was a short scuffle, but the men he fought where drunk. And they didn't feel anything, even the knife Will rammed into ones leg. It only seemed to aggravate them. At the end of the fight, he was flat on his back with an aching head and a spinning vision. They seemed more than mere pickpockets, since they were determined to drive a nastily curved knife into his chest. He registered this groggily, and almost without sound. His would-be murderer raised the knife, in a very dramatic way and brought it done with all the strength he had. Will was still struggling to see properly, but his eyes were now fixed on the knife and man.  
  
It happened so fast that Wills' blurry mind didn't even see it. The knife disappeared and a booted foot entered his vision instead. His assailant had looked up in surprise to see a fist hit him square on the jaw, and a half empty whiskey bottle to knock him unconscious.  
  
Will didn't much remember his reaction, although he had feeling it was not unlike slack jawed surprise.  
  
It had of course been the whiskey-swigging pirate woman from the bar. Wills' head was clearing rapidly and he half expected her to give him a hand up. Instead she frowned down at him like it was entirely his fault she had helped. Then she looked at her shattered whiskey that was seeping into the road and had turned on her heel. When he finally managed to sit up she was near the end of the street, her hair swinging with her seafaring walk.  
  
He looked at the unconscious man, up at his savior; then rubbed his temple.  
  
He caught up with her down a different street. He supposed he should feel indignant by being saved by a woman. Most men would be, but he wasn't. He opened his mouth to ask to buy her another bottle of whiskey, and then snapped it shut when he remembered how she had punched the man who asked her earlier. She turned to look at him right when his mouth was open, and raised a questioning eyebrow when he shut it.  
  
He felt like blushing from embarrassment. She just continued towards the harbor. He kept pace with her, although she took long strides.  
  
"Thank you for helping back there" he said finally working up enough courage after looking like a fool at her twice.  
  
She waved it off with a flick of her hand.  
  
"I was lookin' for a fight anyways. The barman threw me out." She replied, with a bitter twist to her lips.  
  
"Why?" Will asked curiously. He wondered what a person had to do to get thrown out of one of these bars.  
  
"Apparently I started a fight", she replied in a voice that was void of any emotion.  
  
Will snorted. That was ludicrous. Fights started every few seconds around here and no one was ever punished, provided they could fight well enough.  
  
"I'm runnin' outta places ta drink 'round 'ere" she said thoughtfully, tapping her bottom lip.  
  
"Why? Do you start fights everywhere?" he asked somewhat baffled.  
  
"Nah, I think they dun like tha idea of a woman cap'tin, tha's all" she shrugged. By now they were on the pier.  
  
"Well see ya round boy, watch yerself on the way back, eh?" she said before boarding a fairly new looking ship with perfect white sails and a very scrubbed deck.  
  
"I will!" Will shouted and turned towards the Pearl, who was docked not very far away.  
  
Jack returned blind drunk not long after. He was barely intelligible, and didn't remember anything that was said.  
  
Will decided to question him while he was too inebriated to lie or play word games.  
  
"Jack, who owns the ship across the way?" he asked conversationally. Jack squinted at him in the candlelight.  
  
"Ye mean the salty maiden?" he slurred into the darkness.  
  
"Yes" Will answered listening intently.  
  
"That'd be Cap'in Carrie, tough one she is", said Jack thoughtfully.  
  
"Oh" was Wills final answer for the night.  
  
**********************************************  
  
Now he was being married to the most beautiful woman in the world and he was wondering if there was space aboard a pirate ship for him. He almost wanted to giggle at the stupidity of it. He watched in complete hypnosis as Elizabeth glided softly up the aisle. Her gown shimmering as she stepped in the sunlight that filtered through the church windows.  
  
Her gown was satin and her hair was filled with beautiful and fragrant flowers. He felt his heart almost bursting with his love for her, but still the shadow was in his heart.  
  
What was the shadow? Why wouldn't his joy quench it?  
  
She was almost to him now; her small dainty steps had covered the ground faster than he had thought possible. Her shoes looked like they were made of rose petals, white rose petals. Pure and strong, like Elizabeth herself.  
  
Finally Elizabeth reached him and he realised with a shock that he hadn't been smiling the whole time and that he was now supposed to take her from her fathers' arm.  
  
He walked forward to retrieve her. Why? Why? Why? Why did it bother him so, what was the mystery? It hit him as soon as he touched her. He now liked Elizabeth less because she was safe. He had truly fallen in love with her because she was a challenge. A rescue mission; where he could be irrational and lawless.  
  
It was what he had wanted, a chance to be himself without being suffocated by the law and all the rules of society. He really was a pirate. All he had needed was an excuse.  
  
He would miss his freedom, but not because of Elizabeth, he didn't want to be with any other woman anyway, but because she meant he would have to buy a house and live under the law for the rest of his life.  
  
That was why Captain Carries' face had sprung to mind. Lawless, truly free and yet, a woman. That was what he wanted. He wanted Elizabeth; he loved her more than anything. But he wanted Elizabeth to be with him as a pirate, lawless and completely free. He looked down at his wife, she wasn't meeting his eyes, so he cupped his hand under her chin and lifted. She wasn't smiling either.  
  
Instead she looked. wistful.  
  
Was it because she didn't want to marry him?  
  
No, she wanted to marry him, of that he was sure.  
  
"You too, huh?" he whispered and she looked shocked.  
  
"Freedom?" she questioned as if not quite believing he could feel the same. In truth he was shocked as well but maybe he was more used to shocks.  
  
"Freedom" he confirmed smiling.  
  
"Not under Jack" she threatened darkly then smiled as Will nodded once in agreement.  
  
And there they both stood, hand in hand, facing each other more in love and content than ever, their hearts at rest.  
  
"Dearly beloved," the priest began. Will was a little surprised; he never knew Elizabeth was so like him. It was a pleasant surprise though. "Joyful union of."  
  
The time spun around them as the priest droned on.  
  
Finally with the softly spoken "I do's" and the final talking of the Priest they were married. People came forward to shake their hands and offer their congratulations.  
  
Will was still too much of a gentleman to leave while such important people were talking to him, Elizabeth on the other hand had grown up around these people and did not view them as her betters. With a mischievous grin and a wink, she clasped Wills' hand and pulled him out of the church at a run.  
  
They were never seen by the inhabitants of Port Royal again. By the time they had searched the newly weds house, they had sold most of their possessions to people on the street, taken few personal items and left for Tortuga.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----  
  
"Ho, Captain" Will hollered to get her attention as she boarded her ship to set sail. The captain spun to watch two young sailors run up the gangway to her.  
  
"Aye?" she asked, although she already knew where this was going, the bags and money gave it away.  
  
"We were wondering, would you happen to have room for two more aboard your ship?" the young man she had helped asked.  
  
She studied them searchingly; both were young. And married by the looks of the rings. She tilted her head slightly in mock thought. They both seemed to be holding their breath.  
  
"Aye" she said.  
  
Both of their faces broke into huge grins of sheer joy.  
  
She frowned, spun on her heel and shouted. "Raise gangway!" and stepped aboard the Salty Maiden.  
  
Will and Elizabeth hurried to catch up. This was the beginning of their new life. One day they would have their own ship, but for now this would have to do.  
  
*fin* 


End file.
